Forest bird communities across a gradient of urban development

This study examined native bird communities in forest patches across a gradient of urbanization. We used field data and multivariate statistical techniques to examine the effects of landscape context, roads, traffic noise, and vegetation characteristics on bird community composition in the North Carolina Piedmont (U.S.A.). Landscape-level variables, particularly those related to urbanization, were most important in structuring forest bird communities. Specifically, we found that road density and amount of urban land cover were the best predictors of species composition. We found that urban and rural bird communities were quite distinct from each other. Rural communities had more long-distance migrants and forest interior species but species richness did not differ between the communities. Our results suggest some specific guidelines to target bird species of interest both inside and outside of urban areas. For example, if increasing numbers of migratory species is of primary concern, then conservation areas should be located outside of urban boundaries or in areas with low road density. However, if maximizing species richness is the focus, location of the conservation area may not be as important if the conservation area is surrounded by at least 50 m of forest habitat in all directions.     

Low species richness of non-biting midges (Diptera: Chironomidae) in Neotropical artificial urban water bodies

Chironomid assemblages of 22 artificial water bodies, mainly fountains, in two South American cities were surveyed. We found surprisingly low diversities, with a total of 11 taxa, averaging two taxa per site. The typical fountain assemblages mainly consisted of common species that have a wide distribution pattern and are tolerant to organic pollution. Also taxa independent of the natural aquatic sources, such as tap-water and semi-terrestrial species were represented. There was no significant difference between the taxa richness of the two S. American regions, however, the assemblage structures of the water bodies of Quito and Bogotá differed significantly. There was no correlation between sample similarities and distances among the sites either. The low number of taxa recorded can be attributed to the combination of naturally limited species pool and the heavy pollution in natural water bodies as colonization sources.     

Innovation by Teams in Shanghai,China: Cooperative Goals for Group Confidence and Persistence*

Organizations increasingly ask teams to stimulate innovation but research is needed to identify the conditions when teams have the confidence and persistence to innovate successfully. Using the concepts of cooperation, competition, group potency and initiative, this study proposes that relationships where team members believe that their goals are cooperative in that one person's goal attainment helps others reach their goals lay the foundation for innovation. Specifically, cooperative goals convince team members that they have the group potency to complete a range of tasks and the initiative to persist to overcome obstacles and innovate. In contrast, competitive, negatively related goals and independent, unrelated goals are hypothesized to undermine confidence, persistence and innovation. Group members from 101 teams from various organizations in Shanghai, China, completed a survey with measures of cooperative, competitive and independent goals, group potency, and initiative; their project leader completed the measure of innovation. Structural equation analysis supports the theoretical framework that cooperative goals help group members develop the confidence of group potency and the initiative to persist to accomplish tasks and innovate. These results suggest that cooperative goals and group potency and initiative are important conditions that help teams innovate for organizations and thereby specify conditions that can help groups realize their potential to achieve innovation for organizations.     

Fractional Factorial Designs for the Detection of Interactions between Design and Noise Factors

In industrial experiments on both design (control) factors and noise factors aimed at improving the quality of manufactured products, designs are needed which afford independent estimation of all design×noise interactions in as few runs as possible, while allowing aliasing between those factorial effects of less interest. An algorithm for generating orthogonal fractional factorial designs of this type is described for factors at two levels. The generated designs are appropriate for experimenting on individual factors or for experimentation involving group screening of factors.     

Trust,Morality, and the Privatization of Water Services in Developing Countries

This article examines the business of water privatization and the ethics implied in the transformation of the water services sector in developing countries. Drawing on data derived from field visits and semi‐structured interviews held with members of government, nongovernmental organizations, and other stakeholders in one country undergoing transformation in this sector, Ghana, the article considers the ethical perspectives of the various involved stakeholders. The analysis draws on three perspectives—Gilligan's ethic of care, Rawls’ principles of justice, and virtue ethics—which together highlight the economic, class, and gender‐based dimensions of the privatization debate. Finding that endemic mistrust characterizes this debate, the article considers what is needed to re‐instill trust among stakeholders. Specific implications are provided for business leaders and government policymakers.     

Growth curve models with restrictions on random parameters

In the classical growth curve setting, individuals are repeatedly measured over time on an outcome of interest. The objective of statistical modeling is to fit some function of time, generally a polynomial, that describes the outcome's behavior. The polynomial coefficients are assumed drawn from a multivariate normal mixing distribution. At times, it may be known that each individual's polynomial must follow a restricted form. When the polynomial coefficients lie close to the restriction boundary, or the outcome is subject to substantial measurement error, or relatively few observations per individual are recorded, it can be advantageous to incorporate known restrictions. This paper introduces a class of models where the polynomial coefficients are assumed drawn from a restricted multivariate normal whose support is confined to a theoretically permissible region. The model can handle a variety of restrictions on the space of random parameters. The restricted support ensures that each individual's random polynomial is theoretically plausible. Estimation, posterior calculations, and comparisons with the unrestricted approach are provided.     

A unified theory for generalized cyclic designs

Properties of abelian groups are used to unify the construction of cyclic and generalized cyclic designs. Necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained for the generation of fractional sets of blocks, and also for the generation of resolvable designs. It is shown how to apply these results in conjunction with efficiency arguments to obtain useful designs.